Job hunting holistically in the technoage

One of the biggest pitfalls of being a techie and a jobseeker is the temptation to put your faith in the Internet as the job search tool and forget that it's just one aid in an entire toolbox of strategies. At the extreme end, job searching for some becomes a matter of updating resumes, posting them to some online databases, and then sitting back and waiting for an employer to call as they fire up a round of Warcraft III.

Savvy jobseekers know how to combine the Internet and technologies like email and IM along with old school methods that still have a place in the world today, such as pounding the pavement and unsolicited cold calling.This holistic approach actually means starting at square one to be most effective.

If you haven't done so, take time for a candid self-assessment of who you are, what you have done, and what you want to do, and then make sure that is translated into a well-crafted resume. After this step comes researching and contacting employers to arrange interviews, including checking job boards and posting resumes. And if you are using multiple communication tools (including cold calls, faxes, mailed cover letters and resumes) your job leads should filter in from many sources and in more numbers than if you rely heavily on any single method.

In her blog on TechRepublic, Shannon Kalver makes a great point about how you can easily trick yourself into thinking that sending an email and checking it off your job searching to-do list is some great accomplishment when it is not. Check out her useful trick: "I open the communication task on my list when I send the email. I only close the task when I hear back from the other person. This prevents me from thinking of the task as 'complete' when it really just began. It also gives me a handy list of outstanding communications to track."

Tactics like Kalver's make sure progress is realized and not just an illusion. If you are a serious jobseeker check out this Dice article for essential tips. The job market favors job hunters, so get out there!